Door compartment for a refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A door compartment for a refrigerator including at least one chamber designed to hold products to be cooled, that can be sealed on all sides. The ceiling of the chamber forms the base of an open tray.

The present invention relates to a door compartment for accommodatingproducts to be cooled on the inside of the door of a refrigerator.

Conventionally, these door compartments usually take the form of a boxopen at the top which is mounted fixedly on the door or can be mountedat different heights on the inside of the door as selected by the user.Door compartments comprising a chamber which can be sealed on all sides,frequently designated as a butter compartment, are usually attachedfixedly in the upper area of the inside of the door and have a flappivotable about a horizontal axis which forms a large portion of thefront side and possibly also a part of the ceiling of the chamber, andwhich can be pivoted to access the interior of the chamber. This type ofbutter compartment is restricted to being attached on the upper edge ofthe inside of the door since attachment in a different position wouldresult in poor utilisation of space since nothing can be accommodatedthereabove.

The object of the invention is to provide a door compartment for arefrigerator comprising at least one chamber that can be sealed on allsides for holding products to be cooled, which can be mounted at anyheight on an inside of a refrigerator door and makes it possible toutilise space efficiently at every height.

The object is solved by a ceiling of said chamber forming the base of anopen tray which for its part can be used as a conventional open doorcompartment to accommodate further goods to be cooled.

The chamber can be formed by a compartment comprising a pivotally hingedfront flap or preferably by a drawer and a compartment from which thedrawer can be withdrawn. Such a drawer can also be used for example toremove goods to be cooled which are contained therein, from therefrigerator in order to place them on a dining table or to work withthem in the kitchen.

The compartment for its part can be provided with a rear wall whichstiffens the tray; however, since the door compartment is generallymounted in the immediate vicinity of the door inner wall, such a rearwall is not absolutely essential.

The compartment and the open tray forming its ceiling are preferablyconstructed in one piece, for example, by plastic injection moulding.

The compartment can especially be provided to accommodate two drawers,where these can be of different sizes. Thus, regardless of which sidethe door is hinged, a user can always place the more frequently useddrawer on the more readily accessible side of the compartment.

Preferably, at least one of the drawers, optionally also the frameaccommodating said drawers, consists of a transparent material whichallows the user to identify the contents of the drawer without needingto withdraw it.

Further features and advantages of the invention are obtained from thefollowing description of the exemplary embodiments with reference to theappended figures. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a door compartmentaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial view of the back of the door compartment facing therefrigerator door; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the doorcompartment.

The door compartment shown in FIG. 1 is constructed from a rectangularcompartment 1 comprising base 2, ceiling 3, rear wall 4 and two sidewalls 5 and an open front and a tray 6 which is joined to thecompartment 1 in one piece and is open at the top, whose rear and sidewalls each represent an extension of the rear and side walls 4, 5 of thecompartment 1.

The compartment 1, which is open at the front in the figure, that is onthe side facing away from the door of a refrigerator holding the doorcompartment, accommodates two drawers 7, 8 of different width, of whichthe larger 7 is shown in a partly withdrawn position. The drawers 7 likethe compartment 1 are injection mouldings of plastic which is preferablytransparent to allow the user to identify the contents of the drawers 7,8 without opening these.

The drawers 7, 8 have four side walls and a base where a projectinggripping tab 9 is moulded on a front wall of each drawer, facilitatingwithdrawal of the drawers 7, 8 from the compartment 1.

The two drawers 7, 8 are held in a common continuous compartment so thata user can exchange their arrangement according to his needs.

Moulded at the upper edge of the rear wall 4 is a fixing tab 10 formounting the door compartment on an inside of a refrigerator door. Thefixing tab 10 consists for the most part of a plate separated from therear wall 4 by a gap 18 and parallel thereto, which is connected in onepiece to the rear wall 4 along its upper edge and possibly, as shown inFIG. 2, by fins 11 extending from the upper edge downwards through thegap 18. Cut-outs 12 of the plate, which are open at the bottom, areprovided to each receive the shank 13 of a fixing projection startingfrom the inside of the door, which projection holds a retaining plate 14at its free end facing away from the door, whose cross-section is largerthan that of the shank 13 and which engages in the gap 18 and thusanchors the compartment 1 on the rear wall.

In the modified embodiment in FIG. 3, the drawers 7, 8 are replaced bypivotable flaps 15, 16. Each flap 15, 16 is used for sealing one of twocompartments which are separated from one another by a dividing wall 17and whose common ceiling 3 forms the base of the tray 6 locatedthereabove. The flaps 15, 16 are shown as hinged at their lower edge ontheir respective compartment but a hinged connection at the height ofthe upper edge of the flaps or at one of its lateral edges can also beconsidered.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A door compartment for a refrigerator, comprising: atleast one chamber which can be sealed on all sides for holding productsto be cooled, a ceiling of said chamber forming the base of an opentray.
 9. The door compartment according to claim 8, including saidchamber formed by a drawer and a compartment from which said drawer canbe withdrawn.
 10. The door compartment according to claim 9, includingsaid chamber and said tray are constructed in one piece.
 11. The doorcompartment according to claim 9, including said compartmentaccommodates two drawers of different sizes.
 12. The door compartmentaccording to claim 8 including said chamber is accessible by means of ahinged front wall.
 13. The door compartment according to claim 12,including said hinged front wall, when open, is held at substantiallythe same height as the base of said chamber and, together with saidbase, forms a continuous storage level.
 14. The door compartmentaccording to any one of claims 9, including at least said drawers andsaid front wall are formed of a substantially transparent plasticmaterial.
 15. A door compartment for a refrigerator, comprising: atleast one chamber which can be sealed on all sides for holding productsto be cooled, a ceiling of said chamber forming the base of an opentray; said chamber formed by a pair of separate drawers and acompartment from which said drawers can be withdrawn; and said chamberand said tray are constructed in one piece from a substantiallytransparent plastic material.
 16. The door compartment according toclaim 15, including said pair of separate drawers are different sizes.17. The door compartment according to claim 15 including said chamber isaccessible by means of a hinged front wall.
 18. The door compartmentaccording to claim 17, including said hinged front wall, when open, isheld at substantially the same height as the base of said chamber and,together with said base, forms a continuous storage level.